The present invention relates to power supplies in general and more particularly relates to a digital controller which can operate in a diagnostic mode to identify a defective element in the power supply.
Traditionally, off-line analog switching regulators designs have resulted in a high component count which adversely affects the reliability, package size and overall cost. Analog feedback control systems experience both short and long-term stability problems because of component drift. Secondly, each output voltage to be regulated requires a dedicated analog control system. This means that power systems which produce multiple, independent, regulated output voltages must have an independent analog controller for each voltage, since many contemporary applications require three to five independent voltages, duplicated analog circuitry contributes significantly to the cost of their power systems. Analog systems are not flexible enough to adapt to widely varying applications.
Present analog methods and power system architecture do not lend themselves to elaborate protection schemes and self-diagnostics to a sub-module level. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a system controller for a power supply which is digital in construction and which senses the catastrophic failure of operating elements in the power system. It is another object of this invention to provide a digital controller for a power supply which will identify which operating element has failed. It is a further object of this invention to provide a digital constructed power supply controller incorporated into an LSI chip which provides a lower maintenance cost for the power system in which the controller is associated.